Home Health Center Personality Disorder   Personality Disorder - Treatments

Treatment for Personality Disorder


Once a diagnosis has been reached, your doctor depending on the severity of the condition and your current life situation will decide the best approach and type of treatment. With regards to treatments for personality disorders, a multi-dimensional approach is required to meet the emotional, psychiatric, social and medical needs of the patient. Personality disorders also tend to be chronic and often long-term treatment is required. Treatment for personality disorders could involve the family doctor along with a psychiatrist, a psychotherapist, family members and social workers. For cases where the symptoms are mild and detection has occurred early on, counseling and therapy may be all that is required to treat the condition. On the other hand, severe cases of personality disorders may require medications, psychotherapy and even hospitalization.

With regards to therapy for personality disorders, there are different types of psychotherapy practices used. These may include:

  • Cognitive Behavior Therapy
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy
  • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
  • Psychoeducation
Therapy can be conducted in individual sessions or by way of group therapy. There may even be sessions that include family and friends depending on each individual situation.

While there are no specific medications approved by the FDA as treatment for personality disorders, several psychiatric/psychoactive medicines are prescribed to treat the various symptoms such as:

  • Anti-depressant medication
  • Medications to stabilize moods
  • Anti-anxiety medications
  • Anti-psychotic medications
Living in a therapeutic community is another way to deal with a personality disorder and simultaneously attend counseling and therapy sessions. These centers generally do not focus on medication but rather on counseling. Counseling helps an individual to understand and accept their disorder and then overcome it.

Diagnosis
Coping
References
  1. Laurence Claes, Stefaan Vertommen, Dirk Smits, Patricia Bijttebier, Emotional reactivity and self-regulation in relation to personality disorders, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 47, Issue 8, December 2009, Pages 948-953, ISSN 0191-8869, 10.1016/j.paid.2009.07.027.
  2. Jonathan Davidson, Robert Miller, Rosemary Strickland, Neuroticism and personality disorder in depression, Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 8, Issue 2, March–April 1985, Pages 177-182, ISSN 0165-0327, 10.1016/0165-0327(85)90042-4.
  3. Patricia Bijttebier, Hans Vertommen, Coping strategies in relation to personality disorders, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 26, Issue 5, 1 May 1999, Pages 847-856, ISSN 0191-8869, 10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00187-1.
  4. Mary McMurran, Conor Duggan, Gary Christopher, Nick Huband, The relationships between personality disorders and social problem solving in adults, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 42, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 145-155, ISSN 0191-8869, 10.1016/j.paid.2006.07.002.